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Chris Gethard's 'Career Suicide' Tackles Depression, Therapy

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 08, 2017 |

Posted by: Annie Brinich

Chris Gethard--comedian, tv host, and actor (I first saw him as Ilana Glazer's pushover former employer on Broad City) has released the intro track to his upcoming comedy album, Career Suicide, which comes out on November 3 of this year. Gethard is the host of The Chris Gethard Show, which airs on truTV and has featured interviews with and performances by artists like Method Man, They Might Be Giants, Priests, and Sean "Diddy" Combs, who almost didn't do the show, thinking it was some "weird sexual thing" because Gethard's last name looks like "Get Hard."

In the intro track for his new album, Chris Gethard clarifies, before anything else, that he is seeing a therapist, a good sign that the listener is in for a wild ride. He goes on to tell a few stories about his wacky therapist, with whom he Skypes rather than sees in person, as she recently moved to Mexico to live her best life. Later in the track, he acknowledges that he is seeing a therapist to treat his depression, which he has had since childhood. If this is sounding less and less like a stand-up routine and more like a therapy session in itself, you're not alone. How do you make such a personal, misunderstood, and devastating illness... funny? Says Gethard about his decision to bring his depression into the spotlight:

"People have expressed to me that making comedy about depression is insensitive. I vehemently disagree. We need to start laughing about this stuff, so maybe we can finally be comfortable talking about it afterwards. I just try to make sure my jokes come from an honest place, and unfortunately for me being honest means copping to the fact that I once crashed a car on purpose."

Gethard's move to make his illness and his more traditionally unfunny experiences part of his comedy is something that comedians like Tig Notaro and Marc Maron have been widely applauded for. By following in their footsteps, Gethard joins a movement in comedy towards total honesty, warts and all. And warts, apparently, can be very funny.

"Career Suicide" is out on November 3. You can also watch the show on HBO now. And you can watch a video of Gethard and Ilana Glazer cracking up over fart jokes in these outtakes from Broad City: